Over 40% of those with mortgages are struggling to keep up with repayments, according to Uswitch.com.
As part of their mortgage statistics report, Uswitch.com is highlighting the current landscape for homeowners working in different industries.
The results indicate which industry’s employees are struggling the most with their mortgage repayments.
Furthermore, the report also explores the value of their property, their outstanding arrears and more.
| Industry | Average monthly salary of industry | Average price of monthly mortgage repayments | % of employees who have ‘somewhat struggled’ to keep up with mortgage repayments |
| HR | £2,487.00 | £1,259.96 | 76.00% |
| IT & Telecoms | £4,598.00 | £1,110.98 | 59.50% |
| Sales, Media & Marketing | £3,198.00 | £1,172.96 | 55.77% |
| Legal | £4,108.00 | £851.63 | 54.55% |
| Travel & Transport | £2,747.00 | £777.95 | 47.62% |
| Architecture, Engineering & Building | £3,480.00 | £1,049.96 | 45.83% |
| Finance | £5,989.00 | £1,074.67 | 45.07% |
| Retail, Catering & Leisure | £1,495.00 | £769.91 | 40.13% |
| Healthcare | £2,188.00 | £830.64 | 39.01% |
| Arts & Culture | £1,954.00 | £874.70 | 38.10% |
| Manufacturing & Utilities | £2,934.00 | £816.28 | 36.04% |
| Education | £2,145.00 | £853.70 | 35.87% |
Homeowners working in human resources have struggled the most with their mortgage repayments in the past year out of all 12 sectors analysed.
In the past 12 months, almost eight in 10 (76%) HR employees struggled with their average monthly mortgage repayment of £1,259.56.
This is more than double the percentage of employees struggling in both the manufacturing and utilities (36.04%) and education (35.87%) sectors.
Employees in HR are paid £2,487.00 a month on average, 54% less than the monthly wage of those in IT & telecoms (£4,598.00) in second.
Across all industries, 40.71% struggled with their repayments, 35.29% less than the average for HR employees.
On average, three in five (59.5%) homeowners working in the IT & telecoms industry have struggled to meet their mortgage repayments in the last year.
IT & telecoms employees carry a monthly price tag of £1,110.98 on average. This is the third highest average monthly repayment, cheaper only for employees in HR (£1,259.96) and sales, media and marketing (£1,172.96).
However, IT & Telecoms employees receive the second highest monthly salary of all industries analysed at £4,598.00, second only to finance employees, who earn £5,989.00 a month on average.
Rounding up the top three sectors that most struggled to repay their mortgages is sales, media and marketing.
Over half (55.77%) of employees in the sector reported difficulty with their monthly repayments, averaging £1,172.96. This is 38% more than the legal sector repays (£851.63).
However, sales, media and marketing employees have struggled only 1.22% more than those working in the legal industry (54.55%), but earn 22% less per month. While sales, media and marketing employees receive £3,198.00 on average, legal employees earn £4,108.00.
| Industry | Average monthly salary for industry | Average price paid for house |
| Architecture, Engineering& Building | £3,480 | 265,104.17 |
| IT & Telecoms | £4,598 | 240,213.71 |
| Finance | £5,989 | 230,344.41 |
| Sales, Media & Marketing | £3,198 | 227,169.46 |
| Legal | £4,108 | 224,090.91 |
| HR | £2,487 | 218,000.00 |
| Manufacturing & Utilities | £2,934 | 205,015.48 |
| Education | £2,145 | 203,108.14 |
| Arts & Culture | £1,954 | 198,664.43 |
| Healthcare | £2,188 | 196,821.53 |
| Travel & Transport | £2,747 | 183,043.14 |
| Retail, Catering & Leisure | £1,495 | 162,299.54 |
Architecture, engineering & building is the industry where employees purchase the most expensive homes, averaging £265,104.17.
This is 10% more than the average payment for a home from IT & telecoms employees (£240,213.71) in second, and a whopping 63% more than the average for employees in retail, catering & leisure (£162,299.54), who buy the cheapest houses on average.
Homes for those employed in architecture, engineering & building are 18% more expensive than legal employees’ homes, despite their wages being 15% less (£3,480.00 compared to £4,108.00).
Employees in IT & telecoms come second, paying an average of £240,213.71 for their homes. Even though IT & telecoms employees pay only around £10,000 more for their homes than those in finance (£230,344.71) in third, they are 13.67% more likely to struggle to meet their monthly mortgage payments.
Finance is the only industry in the top five where the majority of employees haven’t struggled to meet their mortgage repayments in the last year, potentially due to them receiving the highest salary of all industries analysed at £5,989.00.
